All posts tagged construction

Facing incessant criticism for the way it treats its blue-collar labor force, Qatar is calling for changes to the recruitment system that brings millions of workers to the wealthy Persian Gulf region. Read More »

Qatar is pledging labor-law reform in response to what critics have called systemic exploitation that traps thousands of foreign workers in low-wage jobs and squalid living conditions. Human rights groups however said the moves fell short of full protection for migrant workers, given the lack of a timeline for passage and lack of clarity on enforcement. Read More »

One of the Middle East’s biggest construction companies is planning on going global: U.A.E.-based Arabtec Holding has spelled out an ambitious expansion plan under which it hopes to propel itself by 2018 into the top 10 of global construction firms, competing with the likes of Germany’s Hochtief or France’s Vinci.

To achieve that lofty goal, Arabtec is seeking “multiple acquisitions and mergers with attractive values in sectors with higher profit margins,” the company’s Chief Executive Hasan Ismaik told investors and analysts this week. Read More »

If Dubai has the 2020 World Expo to build for, its oil-rich neighbour Abu Dhabi has its development plans too. And Doha of course is hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Not surprisingly then, construction activity in the GCC region has recovered strongly since the 2009 crisis, HSBC says. Read More »

A week after winning a $6.1 billion contract to build 37 towers in the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai-listed Arabtec is setting up five new subsidiaries, an apparent move to better manage the sudden growth. Read More »

Doha’s new international airport might just be worth the wait. Having been marred by delays of about four years and contract disputes with companies involved in the construction, the Hamad International Airport is set to open in the first quarter of next year with an impressive facade.

It has waterfalls running down the walls, a dome-shaped blue mosque and a wave-like roof that rolls from check-in to immigration and the departure lounge. The $15 billion development covers an area of 22 square kilometers, a third of the size of Doha, and will cater for 28 million annual passengers when it opens, before being expanded to 50 million within about three years. Read More »

The United Arab Emirates was built on relatively cheap foreign labor. As the country’s extended real estate market slump turns a corner, however, there’s a striking indication that its labor lifeline might get more expensive: workers at Arabtec Holding, one of the Middle East’s largest construction firms, have stopped coming to work for the past three days, demanding higher wages.

Associated Press

Workers at a construction site in Dubai

The strikes have been in effect since Saturday, when workers remained at company-owned housing instead of coming to job sites, according to members of a skeleton crew at an Arabtec project in Dubai. A spokesperson for Dubai-listed Arabtec said laborers had returned to work in Abu Dhabi by Monday and that the situation was “being resolved fairly quickly.”

Strikes are rare in the U.A.E., where open protest of labor conditions is outlawed and trade unions are banned. But labor unrest has nevertheless sprung up occasionally over the years as Dubai and Abu Dhabi rapidly built new bridges, train systems, high-rises and hotels using hundreds of thousands of low-paid construction workers, primarily from Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines. Read More »